Do you have a business or personal goal you want to achieve in 2023? At ZB RX Medical, our family of healthcare businesses sets goals that both excite and slightly terrify us. We know that by working to achieve next level outcomes, we’re on the right track. Creating aggressive (yet achievable) goals is part of our process. While our teams enjoy healthy competition, many set and fail to keep goals alive, but why? If you’re ready to pinpoint what might be holding you back from “crossing the finish line of success”, my first suggestion would be to avoid the human tendency to favor the status quo.
While some favor the easy street of status quo, there are consequences when we choose not to challenge ourselves. Much like a cost-benefit analysis, it can help when we weigh the pros and cons that often accompany the status quo. To get on the right track and set achievable goals, Michael Bungay Stanier, author of the book, Start Doing Something That Matters, suggests looking for patterns to discover what not taking action on a new goal might reveal about our motivation.
Stanier says when we don’t commit, we believe we are gaining more control over our lives by creating space for other projects, but, we may be missing out on the bigger picture. He suggests weighing the costs of accepting the status quo (i.e., by not taking advantage of this opportunity to lead a big project, I am losing the potential to master a new skill). Leaders must also consider what others lose if we don’t “go for it” (the people we are charged to lead will miss out on our demonstration of setting and achieving goals or benefiting from a new skill or strategy we learned). Lastly, Stanier offers the idea to document and measure the pros and cons of our decisions. By looking at our own patterns, we’ll be able to determine if we tend to historically lean toward the status quo or if we are more apt to take healthy business risks.
When it comes to setting and achieving goals, we all need people that are open to supporting us (accountability partners). Once you’ve solidified your goals, conduct inventory to assess who should and shouldn’t be in your circle of influence on each journey. Stanier suggests leaving behind anyone who makes achieving your goals harder than they already are. Make a conscious decision to surround yourself with a collection of supporters who will help you make a difference in achieving your worthy goals.
To Avoid Status Quo, Recruit these People in your Goal Setting Process:
- The Steady Warrior: Someone who stands by you through thick and thin.
- The Healer: Someone who encourages you when things turn sideways and coaches you to strive for your best self.
- The Teacher: Someone who offers guidance, insight, and logic to help you see through any obscurities.
- The Visionary: Someone who pushes you to reach for more than you think you can accomplish.
- The Challenger: Someone who disrupts you to push you off the comfortable path.
Leadership Challenge: Do you agree that happiness comes from living a full life and doing meaningful work? Tap into your ambitions and stretch your capabilities to take on worthwhile challenges in 2023 by looking for opportunities to enhance your life, and the lives of others. For example, volunteer in your community (team #RXMedical recently donated time at the Americas National Sales event in Denver, CO hosted by Zimmer Biomet, to make stuffed animals for kids in support of the Children’s Hospital Colorado – a great team effort and opportunity to work together for an amazing cause). Other ideas include chairing a worthy project, learning a new technology, writing a book, or taking on the task of mentoring high-potential future leaders, all examples of ways to leave status quo in the dust.
Brandon Rouse leads a diverse and growing team of professionals well-versed in the challenges facing healthcare today. Headquartered in Oklahoma City, OK, Brandon’s experienced team represents various technological and innovative medical solutions. ZB RX Medical and RX Medical are direct distributors of Zimmer Biomet.